Indonesian bloggers mourn the sudden death of Inong popularly known as Bunda Zidan (Mother of Zidan) who died on August 31, 2006 aged 32 leaving her two kids and husband. Many condolences being attributed to her by Indonesian bloggers who knew her personally or through her blog.
Here, I pick one taken from For the Love of Baking blog who apparently knew her very closely. I apologize for the blog owner for not asking her permission before I post it here.
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I have an online American Jews friend. The first time we met a few years back was when I was zealously trying any of internet tools available. In brief, I met her online through Yahoo Chat and still continue through YM. Once she knows that I am a Muslim (I was and still am always telling anyone I meet that I am an Indonesian Muslim), she asks me: “What do you think about Jews? Do you believe in prejudice?” By then, I thought that her question was about Jews-Muslims relation. I was wrong.
She told me that common American Jews are put to blame for whatever wrongs happen in the US. American Jews are the victims of prejudice. She gives me some examples. I’m amazed and a bit shocked. I dont know whether it’s true. But she looks an honest woman to me. But if that’s the case, it’s an unknown revelation to the outside world. What we know the Jews in US enjoys the priveleges that non-Jews minority can only dream of.
Then she asks me about my personal opinion.
Aug 23, 2006
Despite the fact that the Indonesian blogsphere is not as diverse as its culture and traditions, you’ll find that the country’s bloggers have tried to passionately deliver their voice in various topics and approaches.
Written in two languages, English and Bahasa (to which its neighboring Southeast Asian visitors such as Singapore, Malaysia and Brunei which can speak Malay can catch up with), Indonesian bloggers have presented their own style and character in their blogs.
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In commemorating the 61st anniversary of independence day, Indonesian bloggers have many ways to celebrate it.
Agusti Anwar highlights the meaning of flag as a symbol of nation and nationalism:
Flag is indeed a formal expression of recognition. To that effect, if a people dispose or pull out recognition of others, accepting or protesting, the flag would do service either way. Protesters of different nationals would burn the flag of the opposed and that has been a full statement at best.
Remember when our founding fathers and patriots fought against the colonial power of Dutch, those brave young heroes ran to the front against the shooting bullets to pull down the red-white-blue colonial flag just to rip out the blue part and put it high again. The red and white was on the air. The red and white is on the air. And that time, patriots fell down in smile.
He reminds us, however, that the same national flag could mean both ways, good or bad:
Yet, when everyday you read news on corruption, that so many of the rich are in fact embezzlers or pirates of national budgets, you may worry that the extravagant red-and-white exhibition simply equals theatrical gambits of falseness. You may then worry that short after the celebration of 17 August, the house owners would be seen in TV with handcuff and sadly bowing heads, being brought to court for corruption trial. However, you may also worry too much.
Sid Bachtiar, an Indonesian software engineer stays in New Zealand, writes an interesting finding about some names of softwares which seems incidentally similar to familiar names in Indonesia:
The name of one of Apache subprojects, Jakarta, is the name of Indonesia’s capital city.
Java is one of Indonesia’s islands.
Java man is not someone who does Java programming.
From historical perspectiveHerman Akbar Fajar writes an interesting story that it’s only one year ago that the Dutch which colonized and ruled Indonesia more than three and half decade recognized and agreed about the date of Indonesia’s independence day:
The Netherlands, having taken in a number of loyalist exiles who (for various reasons) viewed Sukarno’s government as illegitimate, would only recognize the date of the final withdraw of Dutch forces from Indonesia on December 27, 1949. This changed in 2005 when the Dutch Foreign Minister, Bernard Bot, made several well-publicized goodwill gestures: officially accepting Indonesian independence as beginning on August 17, 1945; expressing a regret for all that suffering caused by the fighting during the war; and attending 61th anniversary commemoration of Sukarno’s independence proclamation, as a part of the first Dutch delegation to do so.
In the meanwhile, Lalita, a mother of two daughters, expresses her concern over the ignorance among Indonesian youth who even don’t have a clue about who wrote the national anthem:
Today, we are celebrating our 61st independence day …. And how sad to watch the news that many of the younger generation don’t even know the composer of Indonesian anthem.
I asked my daughters whether they know about the composer of Indonesian anthem, and they gave me the same answer as seen on TV.
Among young generation, independence day seems to mean nothing. For them there are more important things to do: to fight to get proper education and better job.
August 17, 2006 is the 61st anniversary of Indonesia’s independence day. We celebrate this day with joy every year. The context of celebration is we have freed ourselves from the colonialism, occupation and justice inequality of one country (Netherlands) against another (Indonesia). We gain this freedom not for free; it’s a hard-fought and hard-earned struggle.. Some lessons we learn after 61 years we drove the Dutch away from Indonesia?
The idea among common people to resist and drive the colonialist and occupier away is that (a) our country is rich with natural resources and we got nothing as the Dutch robbed them all; (b) all people will get equal opportunity to education, the mother of all progress and development.
The facts after 61 years: (a) we are still poor and is still named developing, some say underdeveloped country with continuous “awards” as one of the most corrupt country in the world.; many if not all the so-called natural resources are also subcontracted to the MNC’s company; (b) education subsidy is sinking further which almost close the opportunity for the poor to have decent education to enable them to make decent living.
When citizen journalists or ‘ordinary’ bloggers are making political statements on current Middle East conflicts between Israel and Lebanon, they are usually talking with their hearts. They write whatever they want to write without any consideration of impacts. But when a minister of the largest Muslim country in the world like Indonesia is blogging, he must have been facing difficulties to speak up his mind and hence has to walk in the tight rope between personal statement and the portfolio of ministership he’s holding. Hence the ability to read “between the lines” is needed to understand what he is actually talking about.
That’s what happens to Juwono Sudarsono, the Indonesian Defense Minister, the first and only Minister to have a blog who is also former professor of international relations at the prominent Universitas Indonesia.
In his latest post he wrote about the current Middle East conflict from various angles especially from the diplomatic point of views.
On the incapablitity of UN and “awkward” position of US stand:
The UN in New York issued its predictable litany of diplomatic statements, underlining its helplessness in having credible leverage over any of the protagonists.
The US Secretary of State rather awkwardly wanted “a ceasefire in days, not weeks” but found her words undercut by intensified shelling and missile attacks by both Israel and Hizbullah.
The deep divisions even among the Arab countries:
Heads of states and of governments in Arab capitals differ in their approaches to seek a solution, depending on the respective Arab government’s strategic attitudes toward Israel, Lebanon and Iran.
He equally states that both Israel and Hizbullah have acted beyond their respective backers i.e. the US and Iran respectively.
What the root cause of the conflict?
The intense hatred arising from anger, fear, deep vengeance and radical rhetoric, combined with personal as well as collective sufferings on both sides have led the military conflict run unchecked.
He thinks that the war will last longer than predicted because,
Hizbullah found new methods of running a total war effort, confounding the Israeli military with their ingenuity and skill in deploying rockets and missiles from wide and dispersed areas. It can ignore calls for a cessation of hostilities so long as its human and military resources remain intact. The Israeli defense force, under increased international pressure to agree to a ceasefire or cessation of hostilities, can only do so if it feels that the Hizbullah forces are dismantled, if not destroyed, entirely. Neither side can afford to be seen as having to step down from its absolute minimum military threshold. So longs the war of military attrition continues, an agreed diplomatic formulation will have to wait for the appropriate balance of military forces.
The post attracts some interesting comments which you can read below:
From Masindi:
I don’t see this conflict purely as a result of tension between Lebanon/Hezbollah and Israel, but rather, the two Greater Forces are using the smaller ones to fight each other for whatever objectives that they wanted to achieve.
In my opinion, U.S. is using Israel as an extension of its arm to fight against Iran (Hezbollah gets its military armament from Iran).
All in all, this war can only be stopped when U.S. agrees to give Iran some space to breathe.
Seeharry worries over some Indonesian voices which call for the boycot of the US products, yet he agrees on switch to other currencies instead of U$D:
Right now, I hear some voices to ban american/ european product such as McD, carrefour, starbucks and others. I do not agree with them, because there are some indonesian people who work at those companies. I think we should try to find another way to push america/ israel such as not to use USD for international trade.
Qisai does not seem to agree with the Defense Minister’s “elegant” opinion:
Suggesting to “wait for the appropriate balance of military force” before “an agreed diplomatic formulation” could be acheived is, in my opinion, only making the matter worse, especially for the civilians trapped between the conflicting parties.
Should we ignore their desperate plight for peace and security? Or should we force the fonflicting parties to end the hostility for the sake of humanity?
In this current conflict in the Mideast, I see the US govt as an important player that should mediate or take immedate decision in ending the crisis. As the sole superpower in this rather unilateral world, and in its apparent support to the Israeli military agression, I have little doubt that once the US tell Israel to stop all its milatary attacks, ultimately Hizbullah would also stop launching its rockets to Israel.
No diplomatic solution could be achieved by the international community without any active role from the US govt, even when “an appropriate balance of military force” is achieved. And unless there is no change of US policy in the Mideast, a sustainable resolution to the crisis would remain elusive and more and more civilians would only become the victims in a prolonged crisis.
The writer thinks of more radical action agaisnt the powerless UN: dissolve the UN!
Breastfeeding Day
In the meanwhile, Lita, a mother of two kids, at Banana Talk posts an article about breastfeeding day being celebrated around the world. In her introduction of her post she says:
According to the World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action (the organizers of the week), over 60 countries have legislated all or many provisions of the International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes (the Code), which regulates the marketing of breastmilk substitutes. The week will celebrate this success and draw attention to the work still needed to improve breastfeeding practices worldwide.
In the post, Nyam comments that “Kemaren nonton beritanya di tipi. ASI tetep yang terbaik untuk bayi….. “
I watched the news on TV. Breastfeeding is still and will always remain the best for baby.
the BBM’s (petrol, gasoline, etc) hike, and all price in the market follow suit predictably make ordinary indonesian’s life more miserable. with most poor people earn less than a dollar a day, their life turn from bad to worse.
who to blame? the first answer is President SBY (susilo bambang yudhoyono). now, some politician, activist and political commentators start whispering as to whether in present system–direct elected president–the incumbent president can be impeached? and if so will he be impeached? many say no. but some hi-fi politicians start saying ‘yes’.
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August 5 fifteen years ago a baby named internet was born. It’s then more known as world wide web. So, Saturday August 2006 might be celebrated by the internet enthusiasts as the hallmarks of new world. A kind of world that is entirely unthinkable and unimaginable by those who died before it. No body before that day would ever think that a few years after its birth, things change very dramatically. For the better or the worse.
I myself would never ever think before that day that I would be able to communicate to and converse with people and community beyond my visible and my physical reach: my neighbours and my colleagues.
It is simply unimaginable then what I have had today through internet. And I think millions of people out there have shared the same feeling. And I think you’d agree with me that had there been a nomination for what kind of things/people that influence this world the most during the last two decades, internet would have been the first and the sole winner.
How would you remember this day is of your own choice. But let me celebrate it my way by quoting a good piece from an Indian newspaper which highligting the short history of internet. Here’s the excerpt:
On August 6 in 1991, Tim Berners Lee came up with a programme to link and browse the web.
Though the Internet had come into existence much earlier, his software aimed to allow links to be made to any information anywhere. Berners Lee also made available all files necessary for people to replicate his invention. Thus was born the era of the world wide web. Inspired after a meeting with Berners Lee, Stanford University scientist Paul Kunz came up with the first web server in the US. Together, these two components constituted Americaâ??s first website. Then came the dotcom boom.
The later half of the 1990s witnessed websites like Amazon and Google make a foray into the webworld. Internet Explorer and Hotmail came into being during 1995 and 1996, respectively. One smart individual figured out a way to share his music files and created Napster in May 1999.
By 2000, the dotcom fever lost heat, and one saw a series of websites shut shop. Today, the web probably means everything to us. Buying, selling, chatting, video. the list of its utilities has no end.
Well, how do you celebrate the internet day?
Echoing the international media headlines on current conflicts in the Middle East between Israel-Lebanon and Israel-Palestine, Indonesian bloggers post similar topics with various comments and responses; pros and cons, supports and condemnation to either sides.
Among Indonesian Muslims bloggers, condemnation towards Israeli atrocities against civilians people in Lebanon almost pouring in in unity.
Ummi Hani regards the blinded attacks as the dead of sanity and common sense on the part of Israel. Triaji thinks that what Israel has been and is doing as an “unforgivable war crime” against humanity. Sun of Day wonders why Israel has the heart to kill so many civilians many of them are women and children. He suspect that Israel has another goal in mind: making Lebanon as another Palestine.
Agusti Anwar at Opinion Counts writes:
Indeed, the conflict of Israel-Palestine has never had a chance to get better but worse every time. The recent attack by Israel in Qana’ of Lebanon, causing death and casualties among civilians has brought the worst of Israel out. Most of the 54 deaths found under the rubble are innocent children. Hundreds of thousand scattered and displaced for safety. In the face of his collapsing nation, Lebanese PM Fuad Siniora, a Christian, was so furious and condemned Israel as war criminal. Many quarters in the international community condemned this inhuman aggression by Israel, another evil brink putting humanity in its cynical verge.
Dhika, from Indonesian Muslim Blogger Community calls for action to all Indonesian Bloggers by putting a “Indonesian Bloggers Condemn Israel” banner in their respective blogs. His rationales are as follows:
August is an important month, 61 years ago our country, Indonesia, declared its independence. As describe in our Preamble of 1945 Basic Constitution, we believe that every country has rights to freedom. Israeli aggression against Palestine and Lebanon is an infringement to human rights. The indiscriminate Israeli military aggression is a gross violation of international laws, including humanitarian law that clearly prohibits the targeting of civilian populations (non-combatants). Dozens of children were killed in the Israeli raid in Lebanon and Palestine. The civilian population is bearing the brunt of the Israeli military operations. No other word, Israel is the root of the problems in Middle East.
We believe that every problems has a solution, but not by killing children and civilian population. This action is a moral action to show to the world that we, Indonesian Bloggers, condemn Israeli atrocities’ and their aggression should stop immediately.
Having said that, as Agusti Anwar pointed out, Indonesia is a country with a divided voice, sadly on religious line. Although in minority, there are some voices which justify the Israeli action in the Middle East.
Patung at Indonesia Matters, for example, complains the Indonesian media “bias” in covering the current Middle-East conflict:
One of the most striking factors in Indonesian press reports of the conflict is the level of bias and partisanship. Detiknews.com in particular seems unable to mention the name of Israel without partnering the word with “brutal”. Even the state news agency, Antara, is not immune.
He thinks that such media bias could lead into further radicalising of Indonesian Muslims.
Any radicalising of Indonesian Muslims can be blamed just as much on the press reaction to events in the middle east as on the events themselves. Needless to say, repeated terrorist attacks by Hamas and Hizbullah, now and in the past, have not excited the interest of Indonesian media to anywhere near the same extent, nor have they provoked such creative use of emotion-stirring adjectives in reporting.
Comments in above post questioning Indonesian Muslim anger towards the conflict:
From Magy:
Why is it so important for muslim and Arab countries to unite? Why do RI have to bond with a certain part when there is no such need? Why can RI not be open and bond with EU, Japan, the US, China and India AND the Arabs? Why just the Arabs? I don’t think this make sense.
From Tony:
Strange Country: fighting in the Middle East with the Arabs and in Maluku against Indonesian, solidarity with people living 10,000Km apart while evicting and oppressing neigbours such as Ahmedyyah followers, Papuan, Timorese etc. It seems to me religion is more important than nationality.
From O. Bule:
As my Indonesian relatives put it, ‘Crazy Arabs, what can you say about them?’ There is no need for Indonesia to go down the same insane road as the Arabs follow; to do so would be foolish. Let the Arabs and Israelis figure out a way to live together on their own.
